Lakers beat Houston in their first game after the All-Star break

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The Lakers’ Reggie Bullock defends the Rockets’ James Harden during Thursday’s game at Staples Center. Harden still scored 30 points, but the Lakers’ defensive approach against him helped them earn a 111-106 victory. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers found a plan to limit James Harden on Thursday night.

Expect it to vaporize, like the taped instructions that Peter Graves always got in the opening scenes of “Mission Impossible.”

It probably won’t work next time and it hasn’t worked many other times. If it had, Harden would not be leading the NBA with a 36.6-point average or enjoying many nights of fouling out everyone who guards him, plus the trainer and several ushers.

But the Lakers won 111-106 and this was Harden’s fourth quarter: four points, 2 for 7 from the floor, 0 for 4 from the 3-point line and zero free-throw attempts. He couldn’t rescue Houston at the end because he had fouled out, thanks to charges taken by Kyle Kuzma and LeBron James.

Chris Paul also fouled out and, with 33 seconds left and the Lakers only leading by four, he mouthed his way to a technical foul that made Brandon Ingram’s free-throw attempts a little less stressful.

Ingram hit 11 of 14 of those on his way to 27 points and 13 rebounds. James had a superb fourth quarter, including a fading bucket over Houston center Clint Capela, and scored 29 with 11 rebounds.

But the effort to hold Houston to 48 second-half points (16 in the fourth quarter) was just as useful, and Reggie Bullock, playing his first home game as a Laker, was the first volunteer.

Bullock signaled the strategy early. He crowded Harden behind the 3-point line and made him drive. He tried to keep him from going left. He endeavored to keep from fouling Harden, which is like walking through an airport checkpoint with a hammer in your pocket. Whistles blow every time someone gets near Harden’s force field.

After Bullock, it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Then it was Ingram, and sometimes James. Harden got some traction by stopping in the lane and scoring on floaters, and he did get fouled on one of his 3-point tries and made it a four-point play. But he didn’t have those demoralizing scoring sprees that have become his photo ID. The Rockets missed 29 of 41 3-point shots overall. That’s how you lose a 79-60 lead with 6:57 left in the third quarter.

“He’s a volume shooter, he’s going to get up a lot of shots,” Bullock said. “All I tried to do was challenge him on every shot. He’s obviously got that great step-back move, where he draws a lot of fouls, so you try to just stay downhill on him.

“People sometimes don’t let him land and get fouls that way, or they hit him on the wrist. The referees are right there. Any sound he makes, they’re going to call a foul. You’ll give up some of those, that’s part of the game. But tonight we had our guys blocking shots and taking charges underneath.”

Harden averages 11.5 free-throw attempts per game. That’s 1.4 more than Joel Embiid, the NBA’s runner-up in that category. He was only 6 for 7 on Thursday.

That may have had something to do with his postgame critique of official Scott Foster, whom Harden called “rude and arrogant.” Harden also suggested that Foster be banned from working Houston games, which will prompt the NBA to shave his paycheck at some point.

Harden also leads the NBA with 13.5 3-point attempts per game. He has launched 194 more than the second-place guy (Paul George). But the Lakers doggedly stuck to him and gave him room for only 10, eight of which he missed.

“We went from our normal coverage to our blitz coverage a few times,” Walton said, “just to keep him off-balance. In my opinion, we did a very nice job of making it hard on him, not giving him too many looks.”

“I think he probably got tired,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said of Harden. “We needed guys to help him out and come off the bench and hit shots and we didn’t do it. When we were up 19 we went 0 for 12. Every time we had open shots, we didn’t hit them.”

You know it’s a strange season when fans are actively seeking out the Sacramento Kings’ score. The Kings lost to Golden State and thus only lead the Lakers by a game-and-a-half. Sacramento is in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference, just above the playoff line.

The Lakers now play four of their next five against teams that have no serious playoff hopes.

“This could give us the momentum that we need,” Walton said, “or it could do nothing.”

Sometimes it comes down to a mission, and whether a team chooses to accept it.

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